Published 4:00 am, Tuesday, April 21, 1998

1998-04-21 04:00:00 PDT CONTRA COSTA -- Building gates to block public access to parklands may not be an option for homeowners wanting privacy, if Contra Costa Supervisor Donna Gerber has her way.

The public should be able to get to parks even if their cars clog private roads, she said.

"The gate has become a symbol," said Gerber, who represents the San Ramon Valley and Walnut Creek. "The discussion about whether to gate or not to gate is really about: How do we problem- solve as a community, if individuals are shutting themselves off?"

At the Board of Supervisors meeting today, Gerber will recommend a county policy outlawing gates in new subdivisions across streets that lead to trails.

Gerber's policy would not apply to housing proposals that have already been approved.

The county has approved 11 development projects in the San Ramon Valley near open space. Four have plans for gates limiting public access.

Two others are in the works but not yet approved.

One is in Alamo, near Stone Valley Road, where developers are proposing to build about 65 homes near a public trail leading to park land. If a policy is enacted, those future homeowners will not be able to put up a gate.

Other developments in the county would also be affected, Gerber said.

"We don't want to have situations where neighbors are fighting with each other over access to parklands," she said. "Residents of these subdivisions will have to cope just like anybody else. They won't be able to say, 'Oh, let's have a gate' to solve their problems."

The controversy began in an upscale Alamo neighborhood near the Las Trampas Regional Wilderness. In October, 19 homeowners petitioned the Board of Supervisors for a gate, saying they were tired of teenagers destroying the hillsides and hikers clogging their narrow, shaded streets with cars.

The gate, the homeowners said, would allow walkers and bicyclists access to the park, but not cars.

During 7 1/2 hours of public testimony during two supervisors' meetings, opponents of the gate said it did not solve the problem of marauding teenagers but simply forced them to move to another section of town.

"I can't believe they are so unhappy that they would want to fence themselves from us," said Alamo resident John King at one hearing.

Other opponents said a gate would divide the community.

After the hearings, Gerber said it was evident that most people living near the park did not want access blocked.

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Though supervisors rejected a permit to build a gate on one part of the private road, the homeowners plan to build one closer to the trail, said Mark Armstrong, an attorney representing the group.

In the meantime, a security guard turns away motorists.

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